News

By ANDREW SELSKY and MANUEL VALDES Associated Press THE DALLES, Ore. (AP) — Conflicts over water are as old as history itself, but the massive Google data centers on the edge of a small Oregon town represent an emerging 21st century concern. Now a critical part of modern computing, data centers help people stream movies

By KEN SWEET AP Business Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has announced a cross-government effort to investigate and prosecute redlining, the practice of banks discriminating against racial minorities or certain neighborhoods. It is the first major expansion of redlining investigations since the Obama administration. As part of the effort, the Justice Department as

By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is allowing the Texas law that bans most abortions to remain in place for now, but has agreed to hear arguments in the case on Nov. 1. The justices said Friday they will decide whether the federal government has the right to sue over

MADRID (AP) — The Spanish government has ordered that all citizens who paid fines during a nearly 3-month state of emergency declared last year to slow the spread of the coronavirus be remunerated. The move follows a ruling by Spain’s top court earlier this year declaring as unconstitutional the country’s first state of emergency which

By BABAR DOGAR and MUNIR AHMED Associated Press LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan’s police say violent clashes have erupted between security forces and Islamists in the eastern city of Lahore, killing at least two policemen and wounding several demonstrators. Friday’s incident happened shortly after thousands of Islamists launched their “long march” from the city toward

by SARAH EL DEEB Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — The United Nations envoy for Syria says the first round of talks between the government and the opposition to draft constitutional reforms in Geneva ended in disappointment and no new date has been set for the next meeting. The talks started Monday following a nine-month hiatus

By BRUCE SCHREINER Associated Press One of the world’s largest bourbon producers has announced a tentative contract agreement with a union representing striking workers in Kentucky. About 420 striking workers will vote on the five-year contract offer Saturday. The walkout began about six weeks ago after they rejected a previous contract offer. The breakthrough comes

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — The British government’s scientific advisers have urged the government to ensure coronavirus restrictions can be introduced rapidly, as the rate of new infections continues to grow. Britain has recorded an average of 47,000 new cases of COVID-19 a day in the past week, up 18% from the

By SAMUEL PETREQUIN Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders have pledged to “keep up the pressure” on Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko to halt the flow of migrants entering the 27 member-nation bloc from his country. The leaders also raised the prospect on Friday of imposing new sanctions on Lukashenko amid calls from some

By PETER SMITH Associated Press The spiritual leader of the world’s 200 million Eastern Orthodox Christians brings an agenda spanning religious, political and environmental concerns to a 12-day U.S. visit beginning Saturday. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is scheduled to meet with President Joe Biden and participate in various ceremonial and interfaith gatherings. He’s expected to raise

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — Coronavirus infections and deaths in Russia have climbed to another pandemic record high, putting additional strain on the country’s health care system. The government coronavirus task force on Friday reported 37,141 new infections and 1,064 deaths in the past 24 hours. That brought Russia’s death toll to